“Buy… don’t buy. Panic… don’t panic.” This seemed to be the government’s message in response to the potential strike this week by petrol tanker drivers.

It’s not been the best few days for the government: first was the Budget that came to be known as the Granny grab; then the cash-for-lobbying scandal that earned the soubriquet “Cam Dine With Me”; then the baked-goods VAT story, which saw politicians rushing to exclaim they loved pasties – even claiming they’d recently bought them at long-since-closed shops!

These were bad enough. But the government has now got itself in a major tangle over what we should do to prevent ourselves from running out of petrol. While most of us may be happy to decide for ourselves when to fill up our tanks, the media couldn’t resist asking every possible spokesperson they could find when – and in what quantity – we should buy petrol.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the first person they asked was caught unawares by cameras on a Westminster street… and it was pretty clear that he hadn’t considered the correct response.

Cabinet minister Francis Maude told reporters that keeping your tank filled up and having “maybe a little bit in the garage as well in a jerry can” would be a good idea. This comment soon sparked off a huge debate from the AA, Labour ministers and the fire brigade over whether this would lead to fuel shortages and whether it was even safe. The government later came out to say that Maude’s comments were wrong, and instead advised “sensible precautions”.

This was a classic example of a politician being pushed into giving an answer on something that he clearly hadn’t prepared for. It’s fair to say that, by this point in the crisis, there should have been a suitable response to this journalistic line of questioning.